Control Resonant impresses critics with open-world shift and melee combat, earning 84 on Metacritic

Seven years after Control, Remedy returns to a paranatural Manhattan with Control Resonant, shifting the studio's established third-person shooter formula toward melee-focused, open-ended gameplay. Players explore the altered city as Dylan Faden, the younger brother of Control's Jesse Faden, who has since disappeared. Creative director Mikael Kasurinen envisioned early that the first two games would focus on each Faden sibling.

The sequel has earned an 84 on Metacritic, with critics responding positively to the departure from Remedy's proven formula. Rock Paper Shotgun's James Archer wrote that the studio's "gamble pays off spectacularly," describing Resonant's "reality-bending trip across a kaleidoscopic Manhattan" as "as rich in stark views, eerie atmosphere, and creative quests as Control's Oldest House ever was, driven along by strong character-first storytelling and Remedy's best action in ages."

Kotaku's Cole Kronman called it "the most demanding, most video-game-per-square-inch video game Remedy has ever made. Imperfect, but relentlessly, characteristically interesting." He noted that while Remedy isn't reinventing familiar concepts, Control Resonant "stands out in a sea of blockbuster releases whose storytelling instincts range from atrophied to nonexistent."

Dylan's combat centres on melee and the Aberrant, a weapon that transforms into multiple types. IGN's Michael Higham, in an 8 out of 10 review, found the combat "undercooked in spots, but that doesn't sour everything around it," calling Remedy's first crack at this style of action "admirable because it's foundationally sound and does have fantastic moments of satisfaction that the genre greats pull off."

Eurogamer's Alexis Ong criticized Dylan's traversal abilities in her 3 out of 5 review, writing that it "plays out like Spider-Man helping literal puppies and saving civilians." However, Kronman found "a gratifying synergy in how the game applies movement to both combat and traversal, mastering one puts you well on your way to mastering the other."

The original Control contained its story inside the Oldest House, filled with shifting rooms and dimensions. In Resonant, Dylan enters an open-ended Manhattan altered by an otherworldly entity that causes the city to fold in on itself. The world is split into zones rather than a typical open world structure. Archer appreciated Remedy's XP progression system, where zones level up as you fight enemies and complete side quests. "It's a peculiar mechanism, but one that works. Tying power progression to time and effort spent in different areas motivates exploration, arguably more so than simply slathering the map in question marks," he wrote.

IGN's Higham praised how "the design language of The Oldest House has spilled into the streets gives it a personality that's so distinctly Control. The environment seamlessly guides you on what's what and where to go, so even in the absence of a more detailed map, I was rarely ever lost as long as I paid attention to my surroundings." Kronman described The Pattern, the force affecting Manhattan's geometry, as "a visual and technical marvel," noting that "Remedy has fully embraced the notion of video games as interactive art exhibits."

Ong felt that leaving the Oldest House removed the innate weirdness of the original. "The Oldest House was a moody, ancient Brutalist cocoon full of secrets. There's only so much you can do to spice up a repeated landscape of city blocks and same-y military blockades without losing aesthetic potency," she wrote.

Boss encounters emerged as the main criticism. Higham wrote that "Encounter design is where Control Resonant falters most," noting that roughly half the bosses are "spongy slogs that are less about testing your mastery and more about grinding out a war of attrition." Archer agreed, considering them representative of "Remedy's character action inexperience," though he acknowledged their striking visual design and reward of potentially build-altering combat powers.